US bans import of Haldiram’s products, calls it unsafe

The United States food safety regulator FDA website reportedly says Indian products have been found to contain high levels of pesticides, mold and bacteria and most Indian snacks rejected by the FDA this year were from the Nagpur-based food company Haldiram’s.

According to the US FDA website, pesticides were first discovered in Haldiram’s products in September 2014, and the products of the company have been refused for imports 86 times since then.

Reports also showed that fried and baked snacks were unfit for consumption and also labelled Haldiram’s cookies, biscuits and wafers as ‘filthy, putrid or decomposed- otherwise unfit’, and that they were adulterated, containing a poisonous substance.

The company, however dismissed the charges, asserting that its food was completely safe and complied with the “law of the land”.

A senior Haldiram official told the Wall Street Journal, “Our food is 100% safe and complies with the law of the land. A pesticide that is permitted in India may not be allowed there. And even if it is, they may not allow it in the same concentration as it is here.”